Hong Kong Action Classics
38 Episodes
At its peak in the 1980s and early ’90s, the Hong Kong film industry was unmatched when it came to action spectacle, offering up dazzlingly choreographed, operatically stylized thrill rides that electrified genre fans around the world. From the bullet-riddled underworld odysseys of John Woo (A BETTER TOMORROW, THE KILLER) and Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE, SCHOOL ON FIRE) to the eye-popping martial-arts comedies of Jackie Chan (POLICE STORY, MIRACLES) and Sammo Hung (PEDICAB DRIVER, THE MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER) to the sweeping wuxia epics of Tsui Hark (ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA, SWORDSMAN), these films explode with some of the most inventive and furiously entertaining action mayhem ever captured on film.
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2:08:04Episode 1
Hard Boiled
Episode 1
Directed by John Woo • 1992 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Teresa MoViolence as poetry, rendered by a master—brilliant and passionate, John Woo’s HARD BOILED tells the story of jaded detective “Tequila” Yuen (played with controlled fury by Chow Yun-fat). Woo’s dizzying ...
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1:51:21Episode 2
The Killer
Episode 2
Directed by John Woo • 1989 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh,Hong Kong’s preeminent director, John Woo, transforms genres from both the East and the West to create this explosive and masterful action film. Featuring Hong Kong’s greatest star, Chow Yun-fat, as a killer wit...
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1:41:20Episode 3
Infernal Affairs
Episode 3
Directed by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak • 2002 • Hong Kong
Starring Andy Lau Tak-wah, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Wong Chau-sangTwo of Hong Kong cinema’s most iconic leading men, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau Tak-wah, face off in the breathtaking thriller that revitalized the city-sta...
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1:40:50Episode 4
Police Story
Episode 4
Directed by Jackie Chan • 1985 • Hong Kong
Starring Jackie Chan, Brigitte Lin, Maggie CheungThe jaw-dropping set pieces fly fast and furious in Jackie Chan’s breathtakingly inventive martial-arts comedy, a smash hit that made him a worldwide icon of daredevil action spectacle. The director/s...
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1:45:31Episode 5
City on Fire
Episode 5
Directed by Ringo Lam • 1987 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, Sun YuehThis sizzling, highly influential crime drama from explosive genre stylist Ringo Lam stars Chow Yun-fat as Ko Chow, an undercover cop torn between his duty as a police officer and his loyalty to his friends on th...
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1:42:21Episode 6
Prison on Fire
Episode 6
Directed by Ringo Lam • 1987 • Hong Kong
Starring Tony Leung Ka-fai, Chow Yun-fat, Roy CheungDirector Ringo Lam explores potent themes of loyalty, authority, and corruption in this tough-as-nails crime drama set within the simmering confines of a prison. When he is incarcerated for accidentally...
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1:53:44Episode 7
Prison on Fire II
Episode 7
Directed by Ringo Lam • 1991 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Chen Sung-young, Yu LiChow Yun-fat returns as a convict navigating the perils of life in a repressive Hong Kong jail in Ringo Lam’s hard-hitting sequel to his action classic PRISON ON FIRE. Here, the good-hearted Ching (Chow) must ...
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1:43:01Episode 8
School on Fire
Episode 8
Directed by Ringo Lam • 1988 • Hong Kong
Starring Sarah Lee, Damian Lau, Fennie YuenOne of director Ringo Lam’s most potent works, this startling, unsparingly gritty vision of innocence lost completes the director’s “On Fire” series (CITY ON FIRE, PRISON ON FIRE) with perhaps his most searing s...
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1:35:30Episode 9
A Better Tomorrow
Episode 9
Directed by John Woo • 1986 • Hong Kong
Starring Ti Lung, Chow Yun-fat, Leslie CheungThe box-office sensation that established director John Woo as the king of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema and set the standard for the heroic bloodshed genre, this electrifying gangster saga combines the directo...
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1:44:32Episode 10
A Better Tomorrow II
Episode 10
Directed by John Woo • 1987 • Hong Kong
Starring Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fatThe bullets fly even faster and more furiously in John Woo’s sequel to his smash hit A BETTER TOMORROW, which ups the insanely over-the-top action and jaw-dropping body count as two brothers on opposite sides o...
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A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon
Episode 11
Directed by Tsui Hark • 1989 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Anita Mui, Tony Leung Ka-faiFor the third installment in the A BETTER TOMORROW trilogy, Tsui Hark—who had previously served as producer on the series—took over from director John Woo for what is actually a prequel to the previous f...
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1:28:34Episode 12
Heroes Shed No Tears
Episode 12
Directed by John Woo • 1984 • Hong Kong
Starring Eddy Ko, Lam Ching-ying, Ma Ying-chunIn this explosive precursor to his breakout film A BETTER TOMORROW, director John Woo displays the genesis of his trademark hyperkinetic style. Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) is the leader of an elite Chinese commando f...
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2:11:11Episode 13
Bullet in the Head
Episode 13
Directed by John Woo • 1990 • Hong Kong
Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Simon YamOne of director John Woo’s most ambitious and emotionally charged films, this intense action epic follows the fates of three friends—gangsters Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (...
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1:48:22Episode 14
Once a Thief
Episode 14
Directed by John Woo • 1991 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie ChungHaving established himself as Hong Kong cinema’s master of the heroic bloodshed genre, director John Woo took a detour into lighter territory with this rollicking, typically stylish comic caper, which cast...
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1:36:32Episode 15
Dreadnaught
Episode 15
Directed by Yuen Woo-ping • 1981 • Hong Kong
Starring Yuen Biao, Bryan Leung Kar-yan, Kwan Tak-hingEverything that made 1980s Hong Kong action cinema such a blast—the furious fights, bursts of wild comedy, and larger-than-life performances—is cranked up to eleven in this audacious cult classic...
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1:39:29Episode 16
As Tears Go By
Episode 16
Directed by Wong Kar Wai • 1988 • Hong Kong
Starring Andy Lau Tak Wah, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Jacky Cheung Hok YauWong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic, hypercool crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style for which he would become renowne...
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2:02:13Episode 17
Police Story 2
Episode 17
Directed by Jackie Chan • 1988 • Hong Kong
Starring Jackie Chan, Maggie CheungJackie Chan followed up the massive success of POLICE STORY with an even bigger box-office hit. Having been demoted to a lowly traffic cop for his, ahem, unorthodox policing methods, Chan’s go-it-alone officer Ka-K...
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Miracles
Episode 18
Directed by Jackie Chan • 1989 • Hong Kong
Starring Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Gua Ah-lehJackie Chan pays homage to classic Hollywood spectacle in this 1930s-set gangster-musical romp. An inspired reworking of a Damon Runyon story (previously filmed twice by Frank Capra as LADY FOR A DAY and POCKE...
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1:32:43Episode 19
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Episode 19
Directed by Lam Nai-choi • 1991 • Hong Kong
Starring Fan Siu-Wong, Gloria Yip, Yukari OshimaThe ultimate Hong Kong black-comic gorefest, this live-action adaptation of the cult manga is a blood feast of entrail-wreathed splatter and literally eye-popping ultraviolence. After he’s sentenced to a...
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1:28:19Episode 20
The Heroic Trio
Episode 20
Directed by Johnnie To • 1993 • Hong Kong
Starring Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie CheungWith this outrageously entertaining cult favorite, director Johnnie To and his lineup of legendary stars gave Hong Kong cinema something new: its own homegrown superhero cinematic universe. Thief Catcher (...
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1:37:48Episode 21
Executioners
Episode 21
Directed by Johnnie To and Ching Siu-tung • 1993 • Hong Kong
Starring Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie CheungMaggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh return in this gritty, postapocalyptic sequel to THE HEROIC TRIO. Following a devastating nuclear attack, Hong Kong’s supply of clean water ha...
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2:00:01Episode 22
Infernal Affairs II
Episode 22
Directed by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak • 2003 • Hong Kong
Starring Edison Chen Koon-hei, Shawn Yue Man-lok, Anthony Wong Chau-sangThe first of two sequels to follow in the wake of the massively successful INFERNAL AFFAIRS softens the original’s furious pulp punch in favor of something mo...
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1:58:26Episode 23
Infernal Affairs III
Episode 23
Directed by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak • 2003 • Hong Kong
Starring Andy Lau Tak-wah, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Leon LaiTony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau Tak-wah return for the cathartic conclusion of the INFERNAL AFFAIRS trilogy, which layers on even more deep-cover intrigue while steering the...
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Election
Episode 24
Directed by Johnnie To • 2005 • Hong Kong
Starring Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Louis KooSuperstar director Johnny To’s magnum opus breathed new life into the Hong Kong crime drama by offering a boldly deromanticized vision of a gangland underworld defined by corrosive greed. Every two years, ...